Page 87 of Touchdown, Tennessee
Everything was crumbling around me but I was still focused on his perfect ass. His hair.
Everything about him that I thought I was falling for.
He came back soon after with a giant glass of water.
“Chug it,” he said.
I nodded, gulping it down. “Still being nice to me?”
“Andrew,” he said. “I think writing about Danny would give me a very juicy article. And I’m also not going to do it.”
I shook my head, which made the ground a little spinny. “No. Just do it.”
“I’m not going to.”
“You deserve good things, Gray,” I said. “It’s like you said. I’ve had a lifetime of good things. Everything’s been handed to me. But you… you deserve greatness. Just take it, even if it fucks up everything for me.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t want it to happen, but I can’t stop it, can I?”
“Okay, now I know you’re crazy when you’re drunk,” Gray said.
“Iced coffee, on the house,” Max said as he appeared a moment later, swooping in with a tall, icy coffee in his hands.
“Did you order me that?” I asked Gray.
“Bet your sweet fucking ass I did. Drink it. Perk up a little.”
Max gave me a little salute before heading back over to the busy bar.
I took a long swig of the iced coffee. It tasted like Max must have put a little shot of vanilla syrup in it.
“This is the most delicious iced coffee I’ve ever had. Does coffee always taste this good when you’re drunk?”
“Probably.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m really going to be on national TV in an hour, aren’t I?”
I leaned on the edge of the pool table, staring at the spot in the center. Just a couple of hours ago, I’d been having the time of my life in here, missing Gray and telling him to get his ass over here.
Now I was disintegrating.
Saying things I didn’t mean.
And saying too many things Ididmean.
“You’re going to rock it, too,” Gray said.
I turned back to look at him.
His blue eyes made my heart ache even more than usual.
“You’re being very nice to me,” I said softly.
He reached out a hand and gripped the front of my shirt in his fist.
“Because I fucking want to be nice to you. Now will you shut up and accept it?”
